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Kittens and parasites! Oh my!

So, my coworker found a bunch of kittens, and I adopted one yesterday. We think she's about 8 weeks old. She's very playful, sweet and seems to be rather healthy. I am however rather concerned for her health, as it seems that she has fleas, tape worms and there's a very good chance she has ear mites too.

I am taking her to the vet Wednesday to get these problems looked at. I went looking for flea medication yesterday but I couldn't find any OTC stuff that was safe for kittens her age. I'm not sure if it's safe to use OTC dewormers either. Also, is it possible/safe for me to treat ear mites at home? I've given her two baths so far (one with some kitten shampoo and one with straight water) and I've been fleacombing her and that has helped loads with the fleas. Obviously I don't want to bathe her to much and dry out her coat, but I also don't want her to have fleas.

Basically I want to know if there's any safe home treatments I can do for her before Wendesday to reduce the problem. My roommate has a cat too, and although we're keeping the kitten in the bathroom I am worried about the other cat contracting something from her. Especially worms, because that's just gross. D:

Also a picture for kitten-tastic cuteness.

On a side note, anyone know a good name for her? I've been thinking something pirate-y would be cool, as my friend pointed out that it looks like she's wearing an eyepatch.

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Keeping her separate from the other cat is a good idea. I would call your vet and ask what you can do to make her comfortable until you can get her in their office - they'd have a good idea as to what you could pick up to help her out.

Slightly off-topic, but mentioned: She looks a bit big for 8 weeks old.

With kittens, a good measuring stick is weight: approximately 1lb/month, up to about 7 or 8 months. I worked at a vet's office when my kitten was found and brought in, and they told me that because she weighed about 3 1/2 lbs, they were estimating 3-4 months old. So if the picture is deceiving and she does weigh about 2 lbs, then 8 weeks is a good estimate. Your vet can give you a better estimation.

Slightly off-topic, but mentioned: She looks a bit big for 8 weeks old.

With kittens, a good measuring stick is weight: approximately 1lb/month, up to about 7 or 8 months. I worked at a vet's office when my kitten was found and brought in, and they told me that because she weighed about 3 1/2 lbs, they were estimating 3-4 months old. So if the picture is deceiving and she does weigh about 2 lbs, then 8 weeks is a good estimate. Your vet can give you a better estimation.

Another thing to note is that if she has parasites, she may actually weigh less than the 1lb/month thing for kitties. We rescued our first cat when she couldn't have been more than four weeks old yet (she wasn't weaned, he mama had been hit by a car). However, she wouldn't even register on a scale she was so tiny.

Yeah, she is pretty skinny except around her belly, which might be due to the worms. She definitely has them, we've seen them D: She eats a ton, I'm assuming because she hasn't eaten well in the past and also because worms take away her nutrients.

The chance of there being a safe OTC treatment for worms for a cat her age is probably pretty slim, but if anyone has an idea let me know. Also, ear mites? How do you clean a cat's ear? It'd probably be safer to wait until I can see the vet, but she's scratching her ear and it's clearly very irritating to her.

You can bathe her in Dawn dish soap to get rid of the fleas. It's what cat rescues do; absolutely safe for even infant kittens as long as you're careful to keep it out of her eyes. It'd be better to wait for the vet to take care of her ear mites; cats have very sensitive ears, and you could easily hurt her by messing around in them. Keep the cats separate and wash your hands really thoroughly after handling her, and give her another week of quarantine after she sees the vet to make sure all her parasites are dead.

You can buy OTC worming meds at just about any big chain pet store, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, just wait. Remember, worms may be gross, but they’re really just a natural part of being a puppy/kitten. Be very careful what you do about fleas. Kittens have very thin skin that absorbs toxic chemicals like a sponge, and it’s quite easy to make them drop over dead with the wrong flea stuff. Just let the vet deal with it.

It is important you get her checked for Feline Leukemia, as well as the mites/worms etc.

As for Pirate kitty names, well... here goes-

Third/fourth for Bonny (or Mary Read, after her crew mate)

Cheng (I Sao), for a Chinese woman pirate who commanded a truly massive fleet of ships, and successfully terrorized the seas for many years, through the late 1700's and on until 1810 when she "surrendered" (retired would probably be a better term), and her husband kept 20 ships, out of 226, and all the booty

Grace (O'Malley), Irish Chieftaness who lead raids on neighboring tribes, and generally raised hell whenever she felt like it.

Jolie (Rouge)- French for 'Lovely Red', thought to be the originating term for the Jolly Roger.

Also, Kidd, Teach, and Morgan would all work as genderless names, for Captain Kidd, Edward Teach (Blackbeard), and Henry Morgan.

Best of luck with your pirate kitty! I hope she turns out safe and healthy!